Louisiana executed a man convicted of murder with nitrogen gas on Tuesday evening, capping a raging legal battle that ended with a gas mask strapped over the man's face in the Angola State Penitentiary death chamber.

It was the fifth time nitrogen gas was used in the US after four executions by the same method — all in Alabama.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch effort to block Louisiana’s first execution using nitrogen gas, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening.